Inmate lawsuit calls jail a "rape camp"

Published 3:07 pm, Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Two women who say they suffered repeated sexual assault and humiliation at the hands of former Live Oak County Jail guards have sued the county and the men in federal court in Corpus Christi.

"Beginning sometime in 2007 to at least August of 2010, the Live Oak County Sheriff's office ran a 'rape camp' known as the Live Oak County Jail," the women state in the complaint filed June 12 in U.S. District Court in Corpus Christi.

Live Oak County is a largely rural area, about half-way between San Antonio and Corpus Christi.

Aguilar is an inmate in the J.B. Wheeler State Jail in Plainview, Smith is incarcerated at the Buster Cole State Jail in Bonham and Charles lives in Bee County, according to the complaint. The same men were also defendants in a similar suit filed Aug. 20 by two other women.

In the latest complaint, plaintiffs J.A.S. and J.M.N., who were both pre-trial detainees, allege that female inmates at the Live Oak County Jail were repeatedly forced to perform oral sex and masturbation on male guards. On several occasions, the suit states, the women were forced to perform sexual acts on each other.

It was common for jailers to segregate female inmates and it was possible to assault the women without being detected because the jail's camera system and security measures "were grossly ineffective at preventing violent sexual assaults against female inmates by male jailers," according to the complaint.

The abuse was so pervasive that inmates at neighboring Jim Wells County Jail knew about the assaults, the suit states.

The women are seeking compensatory and actual damages for physical and emotional pain and suffering as well as exemplary damages and attorneys' fees.